Insanity's Slip

Chapter Three

By Boejangles

-/-

Monday rolled around without any more problems. Iruka was in the front of the class reading out teams.

Naruto was still shook up over everything and was staring at his desk like it was the cause for all his problems.

"And Team Seven is Uchiha Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke. Team leader Hatake Kakashi."

Naruto suddenly became much more depressed and didn't respond when Sasuke patted his shoulder happily.

"Alright everybody, go eat lunch and you will meet up with your team leaders when lunch is over." Iruka announced.

Naruto tapped his fingers against the desk waiting for their Jounin instructor to show up, Sasuke was leaning back in his chair and staring at the ceiling impatiently, and Sakura was sitting on the table in front of the two boys.

"You okay Naruto?" Sakura decided to ask after the boy shot another glance at the door. She had decided to play the big sister role for two reasons. One, he was Sasuke's little brother and being close to him meant being close to Sasuke no matter how you look at it. Two, he had always been the baby of the class and seemed so innocent and kind.

"Huh?" Naruto looked up at the pink haired girl as if walking up from a daze, "Oh yeah, I'm fine, just a little nervous." In truth he was petrified for two very different reasons. One was that he was now going to spend even more time around Sasuke and it was hard enough walking on eggshells at home. The second reason was that they would find out he had cheated on the exam and through him out where he could never be a ninja again.

They all turned as there attention was drawn to the opening door. A head full of silver hair poked in, "Yo. Meet me on the roof." And with that the head was gone again.

"I think that was out Jounin instructor," Sakura decided it was appropriate to state the obvious.

They made their way to the roof, Naruto sticking to the back and watching for signs in his brother for what his mood was.

Kakashi watched them walk in and sit down. "Alright, lets introduce ourselves shall we? Tell me your name, likes, dislikes, dreams, hobbies, the basics." His eyes wandered over the three, "I am Hatake Kakashi and that's about all you need to know about me. Now you first pinky."

Sakura gave a small glare at their teacher but it disappeared as fast as it had come. "I'm Haruno Sakura, I like…many things, I dislike Ino-pig, my dream is to be as great as Tsunade of the Sanin and be seen in the eyes that I so want to see me, my hobbies, well there's a lot."

Kakashi caught her glances at Sasuke through her speech, 'Maybe she has her priorities a little mixed up, but he dream is understandable and can be worked with.' "Alright good, go" He pointed to Sasuke.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I like training and getting stronger, I dislike things that get in my way, and I don't have any hobbies, my dream is to bring honor to my clan by killing a certain man and reviving it to its former glory."

'Bent on revenge, I was expecting this, but its different to actually hear it. Maybe I can change his mind. I wonder if the other one is walking the same road.' He looked at Naruto, "Alright, you go."

The blonde had been staring at the ground the entire time only stiffening when his brother stated his dream. He looked up at Kakashi and actually looked at him for the first time. His eyes widened, "I…it's you…" his voice trailed off as his mind relived the memory.

Flashback

Naruto was shaking; the man in the wolf ANBU mask had grabbed him and carried him out of the building. He didn't want to leave the house even though it was on fire and likely to collapse, to the ANBU stopped trying to reason with the boy and just grabbed him.

He was now sitting on the couch in the ANBU quarters while most were out looking for Itachi and the Hokage was busy trying to organize a plan and get the Uchiha district fires under control.

The man who had carried him here walked into the room. "Your brother has just finished telling us what had happened and will be in here shortly. Then we can find a place for you guys to stay."

"No…no don't send me away. I don't want to go it's not safe!"

"You are safe now, don't worry. There's no way that Itachi can get into Konoha alive." At the comment the blonde winced and began crying even harder. The ANBU took off his mask to better comfort the boy. When the mask was off there was a younger Kakashi with a black bandana covering his left eye.

"No! You don't understand! It's not safe, not safe at all. He'll kill me! I'm going to die if you send me away!" Naruto spoke through his sobs trying to wipe his face with his shirt.

"No ones going to hurt you. You are going to be safe okay? Nothing more is going to happen, you are going to be alright now."

"You just don't understand, you don't understand!" With that the door opened and Sasuke walked in. The blonde went quiet. Kakashi took it as a sign that the boy was comforted by his brother being there.

"Alright, I'll leave you two and go make arrangements for somewhere for you to live."

End Flashback

Kakashi wondered how the boy had remembered him from five years ago, but then though the boy probably remembered everything about that night. "Yes, it is. Now will you introduce yourself?"

"Huh? Oh yeah," Naruto shook his head slightly, "My name is Uchiha Naruto, I like…sunshine, I dislike…darkness and yelling and blood, my hobbies are…" He paused much longer then the first two times. He was about to say playing with his pet, but then started reliving the memories of the bloody scene. He then had to think hard, he never really had time for hobbies he was always with Sasuke and when he wasn't he didn't do much but, "walking, my dream…is to find a place where the sun always shines."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow and then slowly lowered it, he realized that the blonde was speaking in a type of code trying to say what he wanted but not wanting to say what he meant. 'Doesn't like blood and yelling, but wants to be a ninja? I can understand though there was a lot of blood when we found them that night. I see the Uchiha massacre affected him to, just in a different way. Which one is worse off I still am unsure.'

"Okay, now that we all know each other I can tell you about the test tomorrow."

"What test?" Sakura asked not liking the sound of it.

"Oh simple survivals test really to see if you have what it takes to be genin." He was smiling at their expressions.

"But we already are genin," Sasuke said looking at the man with what appeared to be a calculating look or it could have been annoyance.

"Ah, not quite, you have been tested to see if you have a chance to be genin this will prove that you are or if you need to go back to the academy for more training." Then there was silence. Kakashi eyed the blond that had taken an interest in his own shoes.

"Meet me at training ground seven tomorrow morning at eight, and don't eat breakfast unless you want to puke it back up again." He grinned at the shocked expressions at least the two faces that were looking at him and then he puffed into smoke leaving the three to their own.

"Hey, Sasuke, Naruto, want to go get something to eat and get better acquainted." Sakura asked looking from one to the other and really hoping Sasuke would want to go.

Naruto lifted his head up with a smile and got ready to reply with 'I'd love to' but Sasuke had set his hand on the younger boys shoulder.

"No, me and Naruto need to do some training tonight, maybe another time." With that he stood up and beckoned the blonde to follow him. To which Naruto stood up and hurried after.

The next morning Naruto woke up at six like he always did, just like it was programmed into his brain. He pulled on the dark blue short-sleeved shirt and black pants that Sasuke had deemed necessary to get after he had made genin. Naruto would have been happy to stick with his more comfortable orange shorts and white shirt, but this outfit had more pockets and was less likely to be noticed.

He moved quietly down the stairs careful not to wake his brother that woke up at six thirty. Naruto sat at the couch and started reading a book on tactics that Sasuke had said would help his planning and help him pay attention. So he read it hoping to please his brother.

By six thirty his stomach was growling, he didn't think he could do the whole no breakfast thing. He looked at the stairs; his brother must just be waking up or still in the shower.

The blonde stood and moved to the kitchen, a small snack couldn't hurt anything their sensei had planned. He pulled out a pot and started boiling some water for ramen. He leaned against to counter and waited after he pulled out the instant ramen cup. He started thinking about how great it would be if there were a seal on the lid of the ramen so that when you took it off boiling water automatically filled the cup.

He laughed at the idea and turned when he heard the water boiling. Naruto poured the water into the ramen cup and moved to set the pot in the sink when he was shoved towards the stove from behind.

The startle from being pushed made him drop the pot and reach out to stop himself from falling without thinking. He grabbed onto the stovetop only to scream in pain as his hand met the burner and he pulled it away quickly.

"What are you doing?" It was a question but the voice held no question in it. Naruto turned around nursing his burnt hand and looked at the source of the voice.

"I'm sorry Sasuke, did I wake you?"

"No you idiot, but why are you cooking? We were told not to eat!" Naruto looked into Sasuke's eyes and his eyes widened, he wasn't talking to his brother right now.

"I'm sorry I was hungry, I didn't think it would cause a problem."

"You didn't think, that's right you didn't think! You never think!" The dark eyes spotted the burnt hand and then held a flicker of something Naruto couldn't distinguish. Sasuke's hand shot out and grabbed the younger ones wrist pulling his arm over the still lit stovetop. The blonde shouted in pain as the fire licked his arm.

"AH! Sasuke stop! It hurts! It's burning Sasuke stop! Please!" Naruto was viciously pulling on his arm trying to get it free from the hold keeping it at the flames.

"No. Stop struggling." His hold on the small wrist became stronger.

The blonde screamed louder, it felt like his skin was melting away. He yanked his arm harder, "AHH! Just let go! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please, let go. It hurts it really hurts! AHHH!" No matter how hard he yanked Sasuke would just pull his arm back all he managed from fighting was burning a wider area on his arm.

Then Sasuke's words clicked, and he bit down hard onto hip lip and forced himself to stop moving his arm. It burnt and stung and hurt like hell, but he used all his will power not to move it.

The dark haired boy let go of the younger ones wrist. Naruto went to yank his arm back quickly when Sasuke reached out and grabbed the wrist again, "I didn't say you could move it yet." He let go of the small wrist again.

Naruto whimpered and his arm was trembling, but it stayed in the flame a few seconds longer.

"Fine. You're done." With that Naruto pulled his arm close trying to stop it from hurting so much. "So, are you still hungry?"

Naruto shook his head furiously in the negative.

"Good. Now go clean yourself up!"

Naruto ran up the stairs as fast as he could; glad to be away from the monster. He wished his brother could see what happened to him and stop doing this. He moved his arm under the cold water of the sink hoping to stop it from blistering, but it was mostly pointless. But he knew that he always healed quickly and knew that it would go away. However the pain was scarred into his mind like all the other times.

He wrapped up the burn gently not wanting to cause even more pain. The blonde then went back into his room to change his shirt. Opting for a long sleeved black shirt to hide the injury. This one would have been harder to explain that a bruise here or there or broken bones every once in awhile.

When he quietly made his way down stairs he looked for his brother not wanting to have another bad encounter.

"Oh there you are otouto, I was wondering when you were going to wake up." Sasuke said with a smile from the couch.

"Sorry Aniki, I guess I was just really tired last night." Naruto gave a small smile back, but his eyes were filled with pain, however Sasuke didn't notice.

A/N: Next Chapter, the bells test.

So, How does everyone like it so far? What do you think? Leave me a comment and let me know.

If you are wondering, the idea for this comes from the movie 'Hide and Seek' and the book 'A Child called 'It''